History

The first record of a library in Daytona was a reading room at what would become St. Mary’s Episcopal Church in 1877. In 1898 the City Hall housed a library at the northeast corner of Orange Ave. and Beach St.

The first library on City Island was a one room concrete block building in 1909, made possible through a $1,000 donation. Books were cataloged for the first time in 1910. In 1920 the library moved to the second floor of the City Hall at Orange Ave. and Palmetto. The former Casino on City Island was the next site of the library in 1947.

The County Commission voted to establish a cooperative library system in 1961, and the City Island Library became the first member. County library administration had offices adjacent to the Library and the first professional director was hired.

The present library was built in 1977 at 37,000 square feet with $2.1 million in federal funds to the city, county and school board which they chose to allocate to the library. The children’s section provided an additional 8,000 square feet in 1987. Library Administration moved out of the Library in 1991.

Remodeling began in February, 1993 and was completed in August, 1993. It takes space previously occupied by library administration and provides for more space for public service and collections.

Additional construction included enclosing the covered loading dock used by bookmobiles to provide new space for the reference workroom, staff lounge, and Friends’ store and book sale area. The Library Center houses the main reference collection of the Volusia County Library and is 47,500 square feet.